


Berries

by AubreyParker



Category: Young Justice (Cartoon), Young Justice - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, Light Angst, Post-Endgame, minor character injury, unrealistic medical treatment
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-18
Updated: 2017-07-18
Packaged: 2018-12-03 17:00:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,529
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11536527
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AubreyParker/pseuds/AubreyParker
Summary: I jumped on the train of post season 2 angst fics.Dick left to find himself. Instead, he spiraled.Artemis wasn't sure how long she could keep pretending that Tigress was doing fine with the team.They hadn't talked in ages.Sometimes healing is found in unexpected places.*changed a few details 1/14/18





	Berries

**Author's Note:**

> My first posted fic ever.  
> Characterization is hard, especially when dealing with grief and vulnerability in people who try to be untouchable.

Whoever was at the door was not going away. Dick realized with a sinking feeling that he was going to have to answer to avoid having angry neighbors. Whoever was on the other side of the door clearly hadn’t realized that even in France people don’t appreciate you on the door of apartments with paper thin walls well past midnight. 

Dick crossed the wide open floor silently, some training just never leaves the body. A glance through the peephole told him little about the figure and his left-handed grasp on a small blade at his hip tightened before he slowly opened the door. 

“Will you help me?” The English hit Dick like cold water before he recognized the voice speaking it. He’d hidden amongst people who even if they wouldn’t accept his French as quite native, spoke it night and day around him. He’d been found. The figure was calm but her eyes were pleading. It seemed impossible that he hadn’t recognized her instantly. Sharp features hardened with determination and the hints of light caught in her hair. It was unmistakable.

“Artemis.” He didn’t dare ask how she’d found him. He had his suspicions. He’d gotten complacent, stopped being as careful as once was, the hope of living a new life sunk deeper into his psyche. He really was just lucky it was her that found him and not someone who’s temper he was more afraid of. 

“Will you help me?” Artemis repeated and this time Dick realized there was pain clipping at the edges of her words. Physical pain it seemed. 

“Were you followed?” 

A slight shake of her head  “It’s been hours.”

“Come in.” It went against everything he’d been working towards. But there was no going back from her being at his door and he couldn’t exactly leave her outside. Especially not if she was hurt. So Dick stepped aside, opening the door enough for Artemis to walk past. His back was to her as he carefully refastened his lock system. 

Artemis stood, frozen a few feet away from where she’d passed Dick through the door. Nothing about her was relaxed.

“What did you need?” Dick asked, scanning her front from top to bottom. Artemis hesitated for a moment before turning around and gently lifting the bottom of her shirt to reveal an angry wound. A cut with colorful bruising surrounding it. 

“My back” she explained as if the injury didn’t speak for itself “I can’t really reach it myself. Can you help me patch it up?” 

Once upon a time she wouldn’t have had to ask. He would have been at her side with a single word. But now, it had been months since they’d spoken. Since they’d seen each other. Since life had gone to shit. 

“Let me get my kit. I’ll be right back. Why don’t you lay down on your stomach?” Despite seeming to have fallen into routine life, Dick hadn’t dared to get rid of the grab bag and med kit close by behind his dresser. “I’ll disinfect it and then see what kind of stitching or bandaging it needs from there. That work for you?”

“Thanks.” Artemis chewed on her bottom lip but barely made a sound as the sting of Dick methodically and carefully cleaning her wound spread across her back. 

“I put a protective drying layer on there. I’ll change it in a little bit once it has done its magic.” Dick slowly stretched to his feet and started for the kitchenette “Tea?”

“Uh.”

“I’m getting chamomile for myself if you want some of that.”

“That... would actually be really nice. Thanks.”

Dick delicately balanced the two mugs of steaming tea as he made his way back across to the couch and armchair. Artemis’ eyes narrowed as she studied the way he limped slightly with each step of his right leg. He deposited one of the mugs on the end table just within reach of Artemis before easing down into the chair and extending his leg with a wince.

“What did you do to your knee?” 

For a second Dick considered playing ignorant but realized that despite how they left things, he respected her and she deserved better than that.  “Oh. You know. This and that.” He didn’t tell her that he took up running. That he took up running alone on wilderness trails. Didn’t mention that he’d fallen and fucked up his knee. Certainly did not bring up how he thought he was going to die out there alone. 

“Is it healing?”

“Most days.” As if the signal the end of the conversation, Dick placed his mug back down and pushed his way back to his feet. Artemis let him work on her back in silence. If she noticed that his shook slightly where there were once unearthly steady or that at least twice he went back to redo his work to make it satisfactory, she didn’t comment. “Well, it’s not perfect but it should stay. I suppose I don’t have to remind you how to care for it until it closes the rest of the way?”

“I suppose not.” Artemis agreed with a small smile.

“Why not go back to base for medical treatment. They could have you completely patched up in minutes.”

“Sometimes I don’t like being so very human around all of them.”

“Yeah. I get it. I mean, I’m kind of disassociated from everything at the moment. But I get it.” 

“It can be really hard to... I dunno...just associate sometimes.” Artemis looked up, realizing that for the first time since the beginning of her intrusion Dick was genuinely laughing. “That was an accident I swear! I didn’t mean it like-”

“Uh huh.” Dick muttered, clearly amused. 

Artemis deliberately adjusted her position so that she could sit up while still being wary of her back. For the first time, she was able to study Dick more closely. “You look like shit.”

“I know, I know.” His bright eyes dipped to avoid contact as his voice lowered to a deep melodic level. 

Artemis paused before turning the conversation with careful, deliberate timing “What’s your favorite fruit?”

Unable to contain his surprise, Dick looked up making sure he’s heard her correct “My? My what?”

Unrattled, Artemis repeated herself “Your favorite fruit. What is it? If you had to choose one fruit to put above the rest?”

“Nectarines. And you?” relented Dick, uncertainly playing along.

“Berries.”

“What kind?”

Artemis took a moment to consider her options over the edge of her now empty mug “Blueberries. They’re the most consistent.”

“Consistent?”

“It’s hard to go wrong with blueberries. Others are great but they’re so hit or miss and I’ve been let down enough in my life I don’t need that from my food as well.” 

“I’m glad you’ve thought about this long and hard.” The corner of Dick’s mouth twitched into an echo of the smirk that had once been his trademark. 

Artemis took her turn glancing around at everything other than his face “We should go strawberry picking.”

“You and me?”

“I want us to be friends. Again.”

“I wasn’t aware that we’d stopped.” Coolness but not unkindness tinged his words

“You know what I mean. I miss you.  I can’t imagine you’re going to say that you’re ready to go back. But I can’t just leave. So I thought I’d try something different.”

“Strawberry picking?”

“I have memories of going as a kid. Actual good memories. Which are not the most prevalent. It’s innocence and youth. And berries, I do love berries” 

“You’re not asking me to come home? Not trying to play me?” His eyes narrowed as his jaw set and his intensity rose exponentially as he studied her for any trace of deception. A skill he was still frighteningly good at. 

“It’s just berries.” Artemis insisted, and she was always so good at being earnest when she wanted to be, that Dick felt the intensity well up in his chest and he had to break away.

“I take it you’re staying the night?” 

“If you don’t mind.” She sank slightly backward, only then revealing how much energy she had just spent. 

Dick stood and then hovered hesitantly, undecided between returning to his room and staying by her side “It’s been awhile since I’ve been good company.” 

“Is it bad that I find that kind of comforting? I’ve needed someone to know that I’m struggling without pity. I’m trying to balance who I was with who I want to be. I was thinking I should take someone I trust -”

“Strawberry picking.” 

“I know it might seem childish. You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to.” 

“For almost 10 straight years of my life, I choose always choose to do something over nothing. To do always something even when it was hard, even if it didn’t seem worth it in the moment. It always trumped having regrets of not acting. Then I stopped, I choose nothing. Recently I started wondering if I’d ever choose something again, or if I’d just slip away. I think I want what you want.  And if you think strawberries are the way to go? I trust you.”

**Author's Note:**

> What the fuck is an ending?  
> How did Artemis go berry picking as a kid? I don't have a clue. With school? Sometime between excursions they went on a family trip? Who knows.  
> Maybe someday I'd consider writing more pieces that are less trash


End file.
